3/9/12…Borrisokane @ Carousel Lounge

It had been such a long time since I had seen Borrisokane play at Scoot Inn. The first time I saw them was on 12/13/11. Timing just didn’t allow me to get back to see them until last night. Although I have to say that Josh (the drummer) did a pretty good job of letting me know about shows. I wanted to kill two birds with one stone last night by seeing them again and checking out Carousel Lounge, which I had never been to before. It’s in such a weird little neighborhood. That was my first indication that, ‘this place is different.’ The next tip-off was when I walked in and sat at the counter/bar (it looks like the counter of a 50′s diner) and one of the two older women that were running the joint informed me there was a one drink minimum as she slid a napkin in front of me. She was so slick. lol I told her I didn’t drink alcohol, so she proceeded to list the non-alcoholic drinks. Man, what a pusher.

My one drink minimum.

Anyway, I got my drink and started listening to the guy on stage, Honey Son. He ran late, which was in my favor, since I also ran late and arrived there late. I stayed at the bar and just started scoping the place out. There’s definitely a circus theme in here which can be seen in the paintings around the walls and the big old elephant sculpture sticking out of the wall behind where the bands play. Also the lights strung across the ceiling give the illusion of a Big Top. Along the wall directly across the counter I was seated at were some more 50′s style red booths. I’m surprised they didn’t have the quarter mini jukeboxes on the tables. While I was sitting at the bar Derek (the guitarist) walked by and said hi. And then Josh waved at me from the table he was sitting at. He came over and invited me to sit with him and his wife and friends. I was happy to join them and to officially meet Rebecca, who is also the lead singer of the band. I have to say I love this band. Not only are they all so sincerely nice, gracious, and humble, but they play HARD! Once Honey Son was over, they started sound checking. Josh warned me that they would be loud…definitely louder than Honey Son. I was fine with that and so was the rest of the room. As you walk further into the space (it’s basically one long room), past the counter, there are a slew of tables set up around the “dance floor” and then a little further back is the band set up. This place is very low-budget. In fact, they don’t even have a sound guy. If you play, you set up your equipment and do your own sound check. That can get very complicated as I could see when Borrisokane was having mike issues. While this may be a fun venue, it’s not a really professional venue for bands. Once they got all the kinks out sound-wise, they were able to put on a great show. This time, I got to see way more involvement vocally from the rest of the band. Not sure if I didn’t notice it last time, or if they all just jump in more. I remember Josh with some vocal parts, but this time Derek also did a song and even their bassist (who totally reminds me of Dave Grohl) rocked out vocally to a song. I definitely recognized all the songs from their 5 song ep, but they also sang some new songs. They have a foundation of rock, but Rebecca’s contribution on the synth just brings the true & utter fun to their performance. And I could see the audience was with me on that fun tip because they could not sit still in their seats. In fact, a couple of people broke out dancing. They just couldn’t contain themselves. My wish for them is that more people find them. I think they’re going to have to work really hard to promote themselves more. They have a ton of friends that come out to shows, now it’s time to get the word out!! To end the night, Borrisokane and Honey Son teamed up to do a 4-song set of 70s pop songs. I thought Josh was kidding when he announced that, but no they kicked it off with a Wings song and threw in a “psychedelicized” version of Dusty Springfield’s “Preacher Man”. It was a pretty cool experiment. I will definitely be going to some more Borrisokane shows because they’re a great band, they’re awesome people, and I’m looking forward to seeing how they grow musically.